An emergency vehicle rushes to the scene in Lac Megantic Montreal, on Saturday, July 6, 2013. An overnight train derailment of rail cars carrying thousands of litres of crude oil exploded in the centre of the small town 3 hours east of Montreal, Quebec.Peter McCabe
/ The Gazette

Still from a video shot by Anne-Julie Hallée early Saturday morning in Lac-Megantic.Anne-Julie Hallée
/ .

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MONTREAL - The train that careened into the centre of town in Lac Mégantic early Saturday morning was unmanned when it derailed and exploded in a huge ball of flame, says a spokesperson for the company that owned the locomotive.

Joseph R. McGonigle confirmed to The Gazette early Saturday afternoon that shortly before midnight, the train's conductor stopped in nearby Nantes, locked the brakes and checked to ensure that the rail cars carrying thousands of litres of crude oil were all securely attached.

He then checked into a nearby Lac Mégantic hotel for the night. Another conductor was reportedly expected to take over driving the train within a few hours.

"Sometime after (the first conductor left), the train got loose," said McGonigle, who is vice president of marketing for The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway. "It travelled under its own inertia to the centre of the town."

The locomotive portion of the 73-car train actually detached half a mile outside of the small town, he added, but the cars carrying the oil kept right on rolling. McGonigle said there are security mechanisms in place to prevent anyone from tampering with the train, and the proper checks were done by the conductor before he left the vehicle. No one except him or another employee of the company should have been able to set it in motion.

"That's what confuses us. How did this happen?" McGonigle said. "There are many fail-safe modes. How this happened is just beyond us."

He added that nothing like this has ever occurred before with one of the company's trains.

The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway was founded in January of 2003. According to the company's website, it owns over 510 route miles of track, serving customers in Quebec, Maine, Vermont and New Brunswick.

McGonigle said the company is assisting authorities and will continue to cooperate with the investigation into the accident.

Twelve hours after the derailment set off a series of explosions, firefighters still could not get near the centre of the fire raging in the downtown area of historic Lac Mégantic, authorities told media.

About 1,000 people were evacuated during the night from the centre of the picturesque town to a local high school where the Red Cross had set up emergency services. There were no reports of deaths or injuries, police said.

"We're told some people are missing, but they may just be out of town or on vacation," Lt. Michel Brunet of the Sûreté du Québec said at an 8 a.m. news conference. "We're checking all that, so I can't tell you at the moment whether there are any victims or people who are injured."

A Facebook page has been set up to help people find missing friends or relatives.Please click the image below to go to the Facebook support group. For mobile users, please follow the link at the end of the story.

Mayor Colette Roy-LaRoche was on the verge of tears Saturday morning as she spoke to media.

"When you see the downtown of your city almost destroyed, you think, 'How are we going to get through this? But I can assure everyone here that all the authorities and ministries have been very supportive. We have deployed all the resources possible."

An estimated 120 firefighters arrived throughout the night and morning from nearby Sherbrooke and Saint-Georges-de-Beauce and farther away from the United States.

The Environment Department announced concerns with an oil spill on the lake and river, advising towns in the area to be careful about taking water from the Chaudière River.

There were also reports Saturday morning that flames had been seen in Lac Mégantic's aqueducts. Town residents, who number just under 6,000, were told by authorities to be sparing in their consumption of drinking water.

Fire and police officials have established a 1-km safety perimeter around the fire and have ordered people to stay out of the downtown area, saying firefighters and other emergency workers could not cope with people who want to have a look at the disaster. Boats were also forbidden on the east shore of Lac Mégantic, between the Parc des Vétérans and the Parc de OTJ.

A team of at least six investigators is already on its way to the site of the train derailment, Transportation Safety Board of Canada spokesperson Chris Krepsky said Saturday.

Even though the investigators, who are traveling from Montreal, Ottawa and Darmouth, will not be able to get near the site of the accident, they will start gathering information from witnesses and company officials as soon as they arrive in Lac Mégantic, said Krepsky. He said it was too early to say if there are similarities with other train derailments.

Around 2 p.m., when winds changed direction sending flames toward the parish of Notre-Dame-de-Fatima, authorities ordered the evacuation of residents in that area.

The SQ is asking anyone who believes someone is missing to notify the police by calling 1-819-583-2441.

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